Graphene – How to See the Invisible?

Graphene is the wonder material of the 21.st century and it consists of only a single layer of oriented carbon atoms. Most of the science enthusiasts also have seen illustrations and 3D representations of graphene on the web but not so many know how this material actually looks like. So how do you actually visualize the invisible to see graphene? There are actually only a few techniques that can do it – scanning tunneling microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. While the first two can be used „see“ how the atoms are placed in this material (in the case of an ideal sample and an experienced researcher), they are not very practical for visualizing how graphene folds and interacts with each other in a slightly larger scale. For that purpose, you would actually need a scanning electron microscope with sufficient resolution (~1nm). In the video below, we will discuss how different types of graphene is prepared for such studies and show you some of the amazing images captured during this study.
Enjoy the show!